Frankford Ave First Friday opening in March: celebrating art, community, and children

Sometimes our gallery space at 2007 Frankford Ave features fine art from university students, aspiring professionals, or artists who make a living through their creativity. We also make conscious space to highlight the artistic expressions of children and creative programming at local schools that we’ve been fostering relationships with. This month we featured the art and music of Al Bustan Seeds of Culture, and had a fun-filled opening. We made lots of new connections and deepened others.

From painting scenes of home with spices to laying colored tile into concrete stepping-stones, the art classes at Moffet Arab Arts After-School Program have produced a variety of wonderful projects since beginning in September of 2015. Led by teaching artists Lisa Volta and Nancy Sophy as well as assistant Claudia Bokulich, the Moffet students have continued to hone their artistry — developing technical skills as well as creative expressions. This show showcases a variety of their products from the school year thus far.

Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture runs the Moffet Arab Arts After-School Program at John Moffet Elementary School. With the support of William Penn Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, the program takes places three days per week, 3 hours each day. Students of diverse ethnic backgrounds are learning Arabic songs, drumming, music skills, and engaged in a variety of visual art projects, led by Serge El Helou (choir/piano/guitar), Hafez Kotain (percussion), and visual artists Nancy Sophy and Lisa Volta.